Two more races in Salou!

2017-10-24

Russell Hughes

Despite wind conditions not being absolutely perfect for racing, the second day of the Techno293 World Championships delivered some excellent action.

The first possible warning signal of the day was at 12:00, but racing was postponed until the wind filled in at 13:00. When racing did get underway it was glorious, sunny weather with a wind speed of 6 kts. This dropped down to 3 kts during the girls’ races, which led to them being postponed again before the final start of the day.

This is a big year for the Club Nautic Salou, who are celebrating an important milestone – ‘We are celebrating our 50th anniversary for the club and we wanted to do major Championships this year,” explained Organiser Jordi Huguet.

But things don’t stop here as after this year’s World Championships something even bigger is coming to Salou. “Next year we have the Mediterranean games and we are preparing for that,” explained Huguet.

Putting an event on for so many young people can come with its own challenges, but things are going well in Salou. “This is our first regatta for so many people and we are very proud about what’s going on, so that’s perfect for us,” concluded the organiser.

In terms of the racing, though, Junior Girl Ella Benbenisti has raced ahead of her competition following an excellent day on the water. With two first place finishes today, she is now first with a one point advantage. Hong Kong national Mak Cheuk-Wing maintained second position after a strong day two showing and currently sits on 5 points after the first discard, six ahead of Sharon Kantor in third.

Junior Boy Daniel Basik-Tashtash has now won three races in a row and his is in a comfortable lead at the top of the leader board. It’s been a fine few days for Israel and another one of their competitors is in second place – Eden Chen – with seven points.

Battling for the third spot is Frenchman Jule Chantrel and Israeli Amit Kashi, who both have 9 and 10 points from the first two days respectively.

In a twist of fate, the Youth Girls leader board is now beginning to look really interesting as Elisa Jariel knocked May Ashkenazi off the top of the table thanks to the latter’s worst day today. Jariel gained places thanks to a second and a third-place finish, while Ashkenazi was made to pay for her seventh and 10th place finish. Russian athlete Dana Kosyak rounds off the top three on 10 points.

Over at Youth Boys, it was another incredible day for Israel as they dominated the top five places in this category. Israeli competitors claimed four out of five places, while Amit Gan, Roi Hillel and Eyal Zror making the top three.

Gan continued his strong showing, but was caught up by Hillel and Zror, as there is just one point between them. Notable athletes Vardimon Tomer and Fabien Pianazza currently sit in fifth and six and will need to up their game if they want to get closer to the medals.